A person died at Denver International Airport (DEN) after being hit on the runway by a Frontier Airlines aircraft.
The incident took place around 23.19 on May 8, 2026, as a Frontier Airlines Airbus A321 operating flight F9 4345 was taking off for Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) with 231 passengers and crew onboard.
According to airport sources, the person had entered the airport’s perimeter without permission barely a couple of minutes earlier after having jumped over a fence. The aircraft was on its takeoff run when the pilots told the control tower they had spotted an unidentified individual on their path.
“There is an individual walking across the runway,” the pilot reportedly told air traffic control. Operators initially appeared to believe it was a member of ground crew.
Communications between the aircraft and the control tower continued, with the pilot then reporting: “We just hit somebody”, before declaring an emergency due to an engine fire. The crew aborted the takeoff after striking the trespasser, while also reporting smoke in the cabin.
Several passengers posted videos online showing the moments after the collision and the emergency evacuation that followed.
All passengers and crew were evacuated via emergency slides, with 12 people sustaining minor injuries and five being taken to nearby hospitals for examination.
One of the aircraft’s engines appeared to have been severely damaged as a result of the incident.
Runway 17L at Denver International Airport was closed for several hours, until around 11.00 the following morning.
An investigation has been launched to determine the identity of the man killed in the incident and the circumstances that led him to breach airport security and ran out onto the runway.
